“Boardwalk Empire”[1] returns for what seems a promising season 4 Sunday, Sept. 8, on HBO. A glorious new antagonist to 1920s Atlantic City kingpin Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) arrives in the form of the amazing Jeffrey Wright[2]. Wright joins the ensemble as a series regular, playing the beautifully accented, distinguished and manipulative Valentin Narcisse.

Narcisse is a Doctor of Divinity, a philanthropist, a Trinidadian student of arts and culture, and the power at the center of Harlem. He’s a drug lord. For Nucky, whose tight grip on the region’s alcohol during the Prohibition era, Narcisse’s arrival thankfully opens the next chapter (and good riddance to last season’s story involving Bobby Cannavale as rival gangster Gyp Rosetti).

Racial issues are at the fore as Narcisse carefully explains his philosophy of the races — “Libyan” versus “Nordic” and never the twain. After a genteel talk studded with Bible quotations, he coldly demonstrates his feelings about “mixing.” His excruciatingly polite manner contrasts with his capacity for excruciating cruelty in one of the most indelible scenes of the entire series.

Once again, the period details are rich, the music is wonderful and the casting superb (including Eric Ladin as a young J. Edgar Hoover). Here’s to a better tale this season. Salute!

Article printed from Ostrow Off The Record: http://blogs.denverpost.com/ostrow